Withings (pronounced "WITH-things") is a French

consumer electronics Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic ( analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usuall ...

company headquartered in

Issy-les-Moulineaux Issy-les-Moulineaux () is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France, lying on the left bank of the river Seine. Its citizens are called ''Isséens'' in French. It is one of Paris' entrances and is located from Notre-Dame Cat ...

, France. It also has offices in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and Hong Kong, and distributes its products worldwide. Withings is known for design and innovation in

connected Connected may refer to: Film and television * ''Connected'' (2008 film), a Hong Kong remake of the American movie ''Cellular'' * '' Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death & Technology'', a 2011 documentary film * ''Connected'' (2015 TV ...

devices, such as the first

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...

scale on the market (introduced in 2009), an FDA-cleared

blood pressure monitor A sphygmomanometer ( ), a blood pressure monitor, or blood pressure gauge, is a device used to measure blood pressure, composed of an inflatable cuff to collapse and then release the artery under the cuff in a controlled manner, and a mercury ...

, a smart sleep system, and a line of automatic activity tracking watches. It also provides B2B solutions for healthcare providers and researchers. Withings was purchased by Finnish company

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

on 26 April 2016 and became a division of Nokia known as Nokia Health. The Withings brand continued to be used until June 2017, when it was replaced by the Nokia brand. In May 2018,

Éric Carreel Éric Carreel (born 28 June 1959 in Amiens), is a French engineer and serial entrepreneur. He is the founding president of Withings, Sculpteo, Invoxia and Zoov. He is a graduate of ESPCI ParisTech, holds a PhD in Engineering from the Pierre a ...

, Withings' founder, finalized a deal to regain control and the company became independent again, under the Withings name.

History

Early history

Withings was founded in 2008 by three executives from the technology and telecom industries:

(CEO), who was co-founder of

Inventel Inventel was a French company developing consumer electronics and communication systems, noted for domestic gateways and considered one of the primary architects of Triple play in Europe. Founded in 1990 in Paris by Jacques Lewiner and Eric C ...

; Cédric Hutchings; and Fred Potter (CTO until 2011). Cedric Hutchings - Withings (cropped)

In September 2010, Withings received its first

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which h ...

funding – $3.8 million from Ventech – to fund the development of the company's next two products. In January 2011, Withings announced at the

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event t ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

that its second product would be a

that connects to the iPhone. It also announced it would produce a

baby monitor A baby monitor, also known as a baby alarm, is a radio system used to remotely listen to sounds made by an infant. An audio monitor consists of a transmitter unit, equipped with a microphone, placed near to the child. It transmits the sounds by ...

for use with

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whi ...

s and other connected devices, which was made available to purchase across Europe in November 2011 and in the United States in February 2012. Withings received a $30 million investment from

Bpifrance ''Banque publique d'investissement'' (literally ''renchPublic Investment Bank'', also known as Bpifrance, BPI Groupe S.A.) is a French public investment bank. It is a joint venture of two public entities: the Caisse des dépôts et consignations ...

, Idinvest Partners, 360 CapitalPartners, and Ventech in July 2013. The company integrated with Apple's

HealthKit Health is a health informatics mobile app, announced by Apple Inc. on June 2, 2014 at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The app is available on iPhone and iPod Touch devices running iOS 8 or later. The application holds health data su ...

platform in October 2014. The compatibility across Withings' range of connected devices enabled the integration of personal data into the iOS Health app. At WebSummit in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, 2015, the company announced a partnership with

MyFitnessPal MyFitnessPal is a smartphone app and website that tracks diet and exercise. The app uses gamification elements to encourage adherence to exercise and diet goals. To track nutrients, users can either scan the barcodes of various food items or ...

. The partnership combined Withings' Health Mate app with MyFitnessPal's nutrition data to let the users know whether they were exercising enough in relation to their diet.

2016 to 2018; Acquisition by Nokia

In April 2016,

announced it had struck a deal to acquire Withings and integrate it with the group's Nokia Technologies division. The deal closed on 31 May 2016. The CEO of Withings, Cédric Hutchings, became the leader of the new Digital Health business of Nokia Technologies. At the time of the acquisition, the Withings brand was said to continue to exist, at least for the time being; however, by the winter of 2016 the brand had already transitioned from the original "Withings Inspire Health" to "Withings Part of Nokia". On 23 December 2016, Withings products were pulled from the

Apple Store The Apple Store is a chain of retail stores owned and operated by Apple Inc. The stores sell various Apple products, including Mac personal computers, iPhone smartphones, iPad tablet computers, Apple Watch smartwatches, Apple TV digital me ...

for unclear reasons, allegedly as an act of retaliation following the escalation of a patent dispute between Apple and Nokia. On February 26, 2017, it was announced that Withings would no longer be used as a brand: its devices would be sold under the Nokia brand. The rebranding was completed on June 20, 2017.

2018 to present; Purchase by Éric Carreel

On May 2, 2018, Nokia announced plans to sell its health tech business to Withings co-founder

. The sale was completed at the end of that month. Carreel had left Nokia in 2017 and completed the purchase of Withings later in 2018. In April 2019, Withings announced that it had set up a factory in France.

Products

Smart watches and fitness trackers

Withings manufactures smart watches and fitness trackers, including the Activité, an activity tracking watch which was the first

smartwatch A smartwatch is a wearable computer in the form of a watch; modern smartwatches provide a local touchscreen interface for daily use, while an associated smartphone app provides management and telemetry, such as long-term biomonitoring. Whil ...

to resemble a traditional wristwatch. It has no buttons and is controlled from a

phone app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on de ...

, compatible with both iPhone and Android. It can track the user's sleep, swimming, walking and running automatically. It also incorporates weight, heart rate, and body mass data from Withings' wireless scales, like the Smart Body Analyzer. The company also manufactures the Activité Steel which is made of

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's r ...

with chrome hands and a

silicone A silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer made up of siloxane (−R2Si−O−SiR2−, where R = organic group). They are typically colorless oils or rubber-like substances. Silicones are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cookin ...

strap. Other models include the Activité Sapphire and the Activité Pop. One of the users of Activité is former French president

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of the Socialist P ...

. Withings began selling its Pulse O2 in the summer of 2013. The product was upgraded in 2014 to include additional features such as the

pulse oximetry Pulse oximetry is a noninvasive method for monitoring a person's oxygen saturation. Peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) readings are typically within 2% accuracy (within 4% accuracy in 95% of cases) of the more accurate (and invasive) reading o ...

measurement (SPO2) and the wear-it-your-way form factor, and the name was changed to Ox. The Pulse contains a

pedometer A pedometer, or step-counter, is a device, usually portable and electronic or electromechanical, that counts each step a person takes by detecting the motion of the person's hands or hips. Because the distance of each person's step varies, a ...

heart rate monitor A heart rate monitor (HRM) is a personal monitoring device that allows one to measure/display heart rate in real time or record the heart rate for later study. It is largely used to gather heart rate data while performing various types of phy ...

and blood oxygen reader, and can connect to other Withings devices such as the Smart Body Analyzer scales and blood pressure monitor. The Pulse is the only such device that does reflexive measurement, so users do not need to clip their finger for the SPO2 measurement. Withings Go was released in 2016 and is an

activity tracker An activity tracker, also known as a fitness tracker, is a device or application for monitoring and tracking fitness-related metrics such as distance walked or run, calorie consumption, and in some cases heartbeat. It is a type of wearable comp ...

that can be clipped or hung on belts, or worn on the wrist with a silicone strap. Withings Steel HR Sport

Withings' first product since being purchased by Carreel in 2019 is the Steel HR Sport smartwatch, a fitness tracker with the appearance of a watch. It is a hybrid and provides heart rate monitoring, GPS tracking, and fitness level analytics including oxygen intake sensors. It is the first Withings product to offer fitness level assessments. Withings also unveiled the Withings Move at CES 2019. This is an entry-level smartwatch with an ECG version that has embedded electrocardiogram tracking.

Scales

In 2009, Withings released a WiFi Body Scale which was the first connected body scale. It measures weight and fat mass and sends data to the user's app over

, and also connects to platforms such as

Google Health Google Health is a branch of Google started in 2006, originally designed as an to attempt to create a repository of health records and data (personal health record services) in order to connect doctors, hospitals and pharmacies directly. The p ...

and

Microsoft HealthVault Microsoft HealthVault (2007–2019) was a web-based personal health record created by Microsoft, in October 2007, to store and maintain health and fitness information. This website was for use by both individuals and healthcare professionals, an ...

as well as diet and exercise sites such as

DailyBurn Daily Burn is a health and fitness company with a membership of approximately 2.5 million that provides workout and nutrition programs on a variety of web, mobile, and TV apps. Daily Burn streaming workout videos are led by master trainers and p ...

. In 2012, Withings announced an internet-connected baby and toddler scale at the 2012

. It was the first scale of its kind and won a CES Innovations Award. It also produced the Withings Smart Body Analyzer, a smart scale that measures weight and calculates

body mass index Body mass index (BMI) is a value derived from the mass ( weight) and height of a person. The BMI is defined as the body mass divided by the square of the body height, and is expressed in units of kg/m2, resulting from mass in kilograms and ...

and fat mass. The scales received media attention when magician

Penn Jillette Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American magician, actor, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller as half of the team Penn & Teller. The duo has been featured i ...

, having lost nearly 120 pounds in four months to preserve his health, attributed his success to a strict regimen and the Withings smart scale.

Health monitors

In 2011, Withings released the first connected Blood Pressure Monitor, which was upgraded in March 2014 to a wireless version to connect to iOS and Android mobile devices. Approved by the FDA, the device allows patients to chart their blood pressure readings at home: it measures systolic and diastolic

blood pressure Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system. When used without qualification, the term "blood pressure ...

as well as

heart rate Heart rate (or pulse rate) is the frequency of the heartbeat measured by the number of contractions (beats) of the heart per minute (bpm). The heart rate can vary according to the body's physical needs, including the need to absorb oxygen and excr ...

. The BPM Core, introduced in 2019, adds an ECG function and a digital

stethoscope The stethoscope is a medical device for auscultation, or listening to internal sounds of an animal or human body. It typically has a small disc-shaped resonator that is placed against the skin, and one or two tubes connected to two earpieces. ...

which listens for some heart valve defects. Withings Thermo is a temporal artery

thermometer A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermometer ...

which uses a 16-

sensor A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...

array to deliver fast and accurate temperature readings. The thermometer displays the temperature, storing data to be analyzed and presented in the accompanying app. Its

and

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

connectivity allows

users to log readings, along with other information such as symptoms and medication. The device stores profiles of several people and lasts on two batteries for about two years. Thermo won two 2016 CES Innovation Awards (Best in Fitness, Sport and Biotech, and Tech for a Better World).

Health Mate app

Withings has a mobile application called Health Mate that connects with many of its devices and shows activity and

sleep Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited Perception, sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefuln ...

trends over time in graphs. The app also tracks weight,

, blood pressure and more if the user enters the data or owns a Withings smart scale or blood pressure monitor. Health Mate can be integrated with

Apple Watch Apple Watch is a line of smartwatches produced by Apple Inc. It incorporates fitness tracking, health-oriented capabilities, and wireless telecommunication, and integrates with iOS and other Apple products and services. The Apple Watch was rel ...

Business-to-business products

In 2019, Withings launched a line of

business-to-business Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when: * A business is sourcing materials for their production process for output (e.g., a ...

products for healthcare professionals. Its Withings Med Pro Data allows third parties like healthcare providers collect data from Withings' products. Withings RPM (formerly Med Pro Care) is used to track the wellness of patients by healthcare providers.

Other products

Withings also produces Aura, a smart

alarm clock An alarm clock (or sometimes just an alarm) is a clock that is designed to alert an individual or group of individuals at a specified time. The primary function of these clocks is to awaken people from their night's sleep or short naps; they ar ...

with sensors, which has sleep programs to help induce sleep, and has light and sound programs to gently wake the user. Withings previously produced a home monitoring system known as Withings Home, a product they later cancelled.

Research

Withings has an in-house research body, dedicated to accelerating the connected health revolution through a combination of in-house research and academic partnerships. Using real-time data, it tracks the extent to which key risk factors for

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

are linked to lifestyle, such as

sedentary behavior Sedentary lifestyle is a lifestyle type, in which one is physically inactive and does little or no physical movement and or exercise. A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while engaged in an activity like socia ...

, overweight and obesity, and

high blood pressure Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

, and what steps can be taken to reduce risks. The Institute has published several research papers on various topics, and Withings products have been involved in numerous clinical trials.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Information technology companies of France French companies established in 2008 Internet of things companies Wearable devices Home automation companies 2016 mergers and acquisitions Fitness apps Health software Medical monitoring